Breaking down Barriers
by Y. Yamamoto
Summary: This is a dive into the mind of Isaac Clarke in Dead space 2
1. Chapter 1

I tore off the front of the console revealing circuitry so complex it was nearly mind boggling. The lights flickered and I had to hold back vomit as I stood in the trail of blood lining the floor and walls. Every scrape, every scratch, every small ticking noise of even a can dropping made me jump.

"Why again? Why was I going through this again?" I asked myself. I shook my head and reached into the console and felt for the circuitry. I removed only the three welds that kept the door lock on and identifying those became harder and harder every time. I had finally finished and I activated the door. The motors whirred to life and it screeched open. I passed through and the sound of it shutting behind me made me jump and hold my plasma cutter at it.

"This is insane," I said aloud.

I turned around and my heart nearly stopped at the sight of Nicole. "You left me Isaac," she said. Her voice haunted my very soul; if I had one… "You left me to die! Don't deny it!"

"Go away! You're not real! Stop tormenting me!" I screamed at the hallucination.

A loud shriek echoed through the halls and a sharp pain pulsed through my head. Flashes of symbols came before my eyes as the shriek got louder and louder and suddenly stopped when Nicole disappeared. I deactivated my helmet to take a few fresh breaths. I fell to the floor and dropped my weapon. My legs were weak and I could only exert enough energy to sob.

"Isaac!" a voice said from my comm. "Isaac, where are you? I need your help! I can't get out of this room! Please Isaac!"

I pulled myself together and stood up grasping the plasma cutter in my hand.

"I'm not insane," I thought, "I know the images aren't real…" I took a hesitant step forward as I approached the next door. I heard more scratching in the vent above me and I froze. I stopped blinking. I stopped breathing. Suddenly, a loud bang sounded followed by a mass falling from the vent on top of me. I could see the distorted face; the jaw bone having formed into large fangs. It's arms had sprouted large blades and it grasped me and seemed to hug me as I tried to push it off. I really was in the middle of the shit again… I didn't see an escape from this one.


	2. Chapter 2

No heaven. The salvation and beauty beyond was somehow impossible at this point. All I could do was just survive. Live through all of this terror. Fortunately I hadn't any friends on SPRAWL but at the same time, to know that the victims had to watch as their families eviscerated them, decapitated them, and changed them into one of the drones… That damn marker. If only I hadn't survived the Ishimura. If only we hadn't entered the Egis 7 orbit. No, the blame befell that man who so long ago found the marker. Who so long ago created the Unitologist religion and spread the occult across the galaxy. This forced us to find the marker. Screw the mining projects. Screw the planet cracking for all the ore. I just know it was for this abomination. And the irony? That it was inside me. That I was the one to have the marker in my mind for the Earth Government to extract and use as blueprints for a new one. I stopped and slammed my helmet on the door in front of me; the blue glow of the holographic activation switch phasing slightly from the vibration.

I waved my hand in front of the hologram and the door started to slide open. Sparks came from the friction of my helmet grinding against the softer steel of the door. I took a step forward as my balance was taken from me and lifted my weapon in front of me. I was finished with this. I couldn't stand each step I took forward. I was nearly back into the train station's center. I thought I heard fire from a plasma cutter and wrote it off as more insane hallucinations. I just walked forward and killed a leaper; grasping its tail and crushing its head under my boot. As I threw it to the side, and (without looking) shot off its arms, I looked into a gated area leading into the government sector to see a woman. I blinked and shook my head to make sure I really was seeing this. It was a woman, her RIG blinking yellow. Obviously she was slightly injured but that didn't stop me from getting closer.


	3. Chapter 3

It lunged at me with the force of a motorcycle. I was knocked over and its fangs reached for me resembling some sort of deranged saber-toothed tiger. I couldn't believe the horrible forms these used-to-be humans took but these particular creatures disturbed me above all. They were the upper body of a human with its spine formed into a long tail with a spike at the end meant to impale its victims. I screamed slightly as I wrestled with this thing trying to get it off me. It just lunged; pulsing harder and harder trying to sink its fangs into my neck. I could feel its tail flailing about and knew my armor was almost no match for this beast. Finally, I got one of my hands free and luckily that hand had an industrial saw in it. I simply turned it on and slid it over one of the arms. When the beast doubled back, I kicked it all the way off me and grasped its tail. I had tried it before, so I hoped it would work again. I pulled the tail behind me and placed my boot at the base of the skull where it attached to the spine. I pulled with all my might until I heard and felt a loud crunch before the skull broke free. It squealed slightly and as it squirmed on the floor I aimed the ripper at it and let loose one of the blades. It let out a few more gurgles before ceasing motion and turning back into a mass of flesh…an addition to the casualties of the SPRAWL. I turned and heard Nicole's voice. It was soft and loving and I was happy to have made peace with her. I made my way toward the voice and saw the light of her figure bright against the dark color of the marker.

"Isaac, make us whole," she said to me smoothly. I dropped my weapon and walked up to her. I had made peace with my demons and it was time to get the help I needed to destroy this monstrosity of a religious symbol of unitology once and for all. I put my arms around the hallucination and almost felt her arms rest behind me. in our embrace, she said, "I'm so happy Isaac; time to die."

"What?" I said pushing her away and looking at her in disbelief. Her body exploded into dark static and I could feel her boring into my very soul. I knew I had gone unconscious because I was in some sort of alternate realm. No doubt the part of my brain that contained all my knowledge of the marker.

"_we have to do it Isaac, we have to become one. The marker needs us. We have to become whole" _she said with new darkness in her voice. All I did was raise my weapon and fire.


End file.
